IFA Reports

Giles Scott

Note: Correction in heading and second paragraph.

Giles Scott seals Palma Finn win, four-way fight for other medals

Olympic champion Giles Scott has done enough to win the Finn Class at the 49 Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía Iberostar with a day to spare after another tricky day on the Bay of Palma left him with a 29-point lead, with just the medal race to sail. The Netherland’s Nicholas Heiner is guaranteed a medal, but will fight for silver with New Zealand’s Andy Maloney, who has an almost safe points lead to take a medal.

Race wins on Friday went to Maloney and Norway’s Anders Pedersen. While Scott just has to show up to win gold, and Heiner is guaranteed silver or bronze, only Switzerland’s Nils Theuninck or France's Jonathan Lobert can take the medal from Maloney, and only by winning the medal race with Maloney in last place. The gap is 18 points.

Nicholas Heiner leads the fleet downwind in Race 9

Some highlights from Day 5 in Palma

Friday started with light winds again and an onshore postponement. Scott already had a 37-point lead and just needed one more race to clinch the week. He kept everyone’s hope alive with a scrappy 17th in the first race of the day after an uncharacteristic mistake on the beat, doing turns at the top and being passed by a group on the downwind.

At the front Heiner was the early leader from Maloney, but on the second upwind, Maloney moved ahead to take the win. Germany’s Max Kohlhoff rounded the top in third and sailed well to hold off the fleet to take third.

The breeze increased for the second race with rain clouds coming through and a big 20-knot shift on the left side. A win for Pedersen kept him in ninth overall, while new European champion Ed Wright, finally had a good day to cross second and put down the best equal score of the day with Heiner. Scott crossed in third to secure the title with a day to spare.

Alessio Spadoni

After being in the top 10 for most of the week, Italy’s Alessio Spadoni had to settle for 11th overall, just a few points adrift.

“In the end I am a bit dissatisfied because of not making the medal race. I was happy during the week, as I have made good improvements. I was doing well on the breezy day in the big waves, but today in the chop, I had some more problems. So something to work on.”

He has been in the Finn for a year, before that sailing the Laser. “I was always struggling to keep my weight down in the Laser. I worked a lot to build myself up for the Finn. I was good this week, but just missed out.”

“In the Laser I could make top 20 in races like Palma. But I am doing better in the Finn, and I prefer sailing the Finn. The mood in the boat park is very relaxed, and I really enjoy it.”

Andy Maloney

Maloney, “I sailed pretty well today. Had good starts at the favoured end and managed to get on the lifted tack pretty quickly off the line and sailed the shifts from there. I definitely righted some wrongs from the first day of the regatta when it was similar conditions and I wasn’t really sailing the phases so well upwind. So really happy with today.”

On the medal race fight with Heiner, “I am sure Heiner and I will have a good battle tomorrow, and I will keep an eye on the Swiss guy as well to make sure he isn’t winning the race.”

They have been in many similar battles before. “It feels a little bit like Laser days. We’ve had some good battles in the past so should be a good day tomorrow.”

He is seven points behind Heiner. On the possibility of a match race against Heiner, he joked, “I don’t know. I’ve won the America’s Cup but I’m not sure if that was exactly match racing.”

He felt had had improved during the week. “I am sailing a lot better this week especially after the first day when I made a few mistakes but learning each day and improving as the week went on, and my tactics were definitely a lot better by the end of the week than at the start.”

Nicholas Heiner

Heiner explained his day, “The story of the day was to head left. I got two really good starts. In the first race I played the left and found some pressure and took it across. One little mistake and I let Andy pass me on the second beat. I was a bit wrong in my set up and wasn’t as fast on the second beat.”

“In the second race I started well and crossed the fleet and big left with pressure. I was waiting for the right to come in with pressure under the rain cloud, but that didn’t happen and it went harder and harder left and the guys I rolled that went left did really well out of it. But I sailed really nicely forward with Giles on the downwind, and after that made two really nice counters.”

“So tomorrow, the medal race against Andy for the silver should be good fun, like in the Laser days. There’s nobody better to battle it out against at the moment."

After a bad start to the week, “It was a tough start to the week and I just wasn’t sharp, and maybe still a bit tired in body and mind after the Europeans. I just need to sort out the first day, which has been a bit unfortunate. I will try to be a bit more consistent and have a crack at Giles, who is still really far ahead.”

Race 9

Scott was understandably happy to win so convincingly again.

“It is good to win here having missed the Europeans. This is the first racing since Miami and so it is good to check in and continue working towards Aarhus. This has been a tricky week to manage because there are a lot of guys have shown how tricky it is (with high scores), but I think I just concentrated on putting myself in positions where I could manage it with a bit less risk.”

"It is tricky to know here when to take some leverage and try to make the big gains and when to try to be conservative. I have been able to play that game quite well this week. That is probably why I have not really had any really proper shiners of races but have been nicely consistent around that 5 mark which in these fleets of 70 odd boats is good.”

The medal race is scheduled for 11.20 on Saturday. It will be a line-up of youth and experience with two European titles, five world titles, one America’s Cup winner and two Olympic champions. One medal is taken, two are still up for grabs.

Scandinavians win races, but Scott extends after fourth day for Finns in Palma

Though he has yet to win a race, consistency is paying off for Giles Scott as he takes a 37-point lead in the Finn fleet after the fourth day of the 49 Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía Iberostar in Palma. The Netherlands’ Nicholas Heiner is up to second while previous regatta leader, Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland, moves back up to third. The races wins on Thursday went to Norway’s Anders Pedersen and Sweden’s Max Salminen.

It was a typical Palma sea breeze day. With racing already put back to 12.00, the fleet were then held ashore before enough wind appeared to justify sending them out. The first race was started in very light wind that built throughout the day to peak at 14-15 knots in the second race.

Anders Pedersen

Pedersen, the 2014 Junior world champion, led all the way in the first race to win from Scott and Facundo Olezza, from Argentina.

Pedersen explained, “It was still shifty, not big shifts, but it was hard. Taking a good start was the key today. Starting on the right side, and getting away.”

“The first race was very light, sitting on the traveller conditions, and the first upwind was a bit challenging and then there was a bit more breeze kicking in from the left on the second beat. That for sure helped me. I got a good start and got into the rhythm with the shifts and then just followed the fleet. It was quite easy.”

“In the second race it got more windy during the race. The boat end was favoured and a lot of us got pushed over the layline and lost quite a few metres.”

He is struggling with an arm injury since the Europeans two weeks ago. “’I have been trying to recover from that since then, so I am struggling with that when it’s windy, but it’s good to see that I am improving my light wind sailing.”

Max Salminen

The next race was sailed in a building breeze, which topped out at 14-15 knots. While world Champion, Salminen, led at the top, France’s Jonathan Lobert got through downwind, but then rounded the unfavoured gate mark. Salminen rounded the opposite mark and led back up the second beat to take the win from Lobert and Heiner.

Salminen said, “I am slowly working myself back into the regatta. I’ve been making a lot of stupid mistakes, but maybe today my speed was my friend, as I don’t know if I sailed that well.”

“We’ve have had quite short courses for this many boats and in this light stuff everyone goes almost the same speed, so it’s really important to find a good lane and work your speed out of there. And then downwind the same, when everyone arrives at the top mark at the same time it’s really had to find that little extra.”

Today, “I had a solid start and then found some really good lanes where I could work my speed. And then downwind, I am quite fast in these choppy sea breeze waves.”

With a fourth and a second, Lobert had the best score of the day and moved up to sixth overall.

Nicholas Heiner

A 6, 3 for Heiner was enough to move from tenth to second overall.

On today’s racing, “I played it pretty safe to get off the line, with quite low risk sailing and I made a few nice decisions to sail forward and was quite happy with that. In the second race the breeze filled in and out of the line we were really hiking and the waves were picking up and it was a beautiful race. I was happy to be in the front bunch and fighting it out with four guys.”

On the gap of 37-points to Scott. “Giles is annoying, he is always there. Nah, he sailed really well, but he’s catchable. I just need to be as consistent as him and I still have two years to do that. We need to hurry up though.”

Noting that Scott has not won a race here yet, Heiner adds, "I don’t think here you need to win races, especially in the first two days, if you can put down four top tens in the first two days that does the job. He has a pretty nice exit going into the last two days. He is sailing really well…but he's catchable, hopefully. We’ll work on that."

Nils Theuninck

After leading the regatta following the second day, Theuninck is back up to third after a 12, 7 today.

“I think it’s quite solid results in a strong fleet like this.”

“I was a bit disappointed after yesterday. In the strong conditions I was not so well prepared for it, but today was much better, even in the second race when the breeze got stronger. I had some good downwinds, and some good speed on the upwinds, so I am really happy with the day.”

He added that he felt slightly awed looking at the results list, with his name surrounded by so many famous names of world, European, Olympic and America’s Cup champions. But the Finn is providing a perfect pathway for him to realise his potential and he is making the most of the opportunity.

This is his first full season in the Finn class. "I sailed Laser for five years. And I stopped in my last junior year, where I was third in the U21 Europeans. I think the Finn fits me much better and I am able to sail my best.”

Facundo Olezza

With one more day to sail to decide the top ten to go into Saturday’s medal race, the field is beginning to tighten. While Scott seems to be running away with it, there are just 13-points from second to tenth, and all of those are already discarding high points, so one more mistake from any of them could prove costly.

The final races in the opening series for Finns in Palma are scheduled to begin on Friday at 11.00 before Saturday’s medal race.